Does anyone remember a post where the topic of discussion was something like: US targets enemies with A-Bombs.

Well, at that time I did some digging and found some more on that press release, which BTW was from the Washington Post. I stored this info in a folder for future reference.

With Bush’s recent press conferences it might be relevant, and thought I would put it here to kick around.

Please keep in mind this IS from a ‘very’ right wing organization “the Thomas Paine org.”

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a leaked government document revealed the administration intends to lower the threshold for using nuclear weapons. The Defense Department is planning to develop smaller, more "precise" nuclear bombs, and may consider using them preemptively against countries suspected of developing weapons of mass destruction.

The Bush administration's actions fit neatly into a plan for United States hegemony first mapped out in a draft Pentagon paper 10 years ago. The secret document, known as the "Defense Policy Guidance," was written by two relatively obscure civilian Pentagon officials in the aftermath of the Gulf War.

The main authors were Paul Wolfowitz, now the deputy secretary of defense and widely considered among the most hawkish of administration officials, and I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, a lawyer who now serves as Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff and national security adviser. During the first Bush administration, both men were working for Cheney, who was defense secretary.

In 1992, The New York Times was the first to obtain the draft Pentagon paper and break the story. It published excerpts of the document, setting off a storm of controversy in Washington. Democratic Sen. Joseph Biden, now chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, called it a prescription for "a Pax Americana," or a world order enforced by U.S. power.

The uproar subsided only after National Security Adviser Brent Scowcroft and then-Secretary of State James Baker prevailed on Cheney to tone down the final draft, which he did. Though the document may have been revised, administration initiatives today seem strikingly similar to the original.

According to the original draft, preventing the emergence of a rival superpower "is a dominant consideration underlying the new regional defense strategy and requires that we endeavor to prevent any hostile power from dominating a region whose resources would, under consolidated control, be sufficient to generate global power."

In addition to Western Europe, these regions include "...East Asia, the territory of the former Soviet Union and Southwest Asia," the same three regions where the new Bush administration has been most promiscuous in deploying military forces since 9/11.
Indeed, under the new world order envisaged by Wolfowitz and Libby a decade ago, American military intervention around the world would come to be seen "as a constant feature," according to the draft.

The document even anticipated the latest nuclear moves by the Pentagon, as well as Bush's warning to the "axis of evil" that he would resort to pre-emptive strikes against countries suspected of developing weapons of mass destruction.

"The U.S. may be faced with the question of whether to take military steps to prevent the development or use of weapons of mass destruction," the document said. It noted that pre-emptive attacks, including attacks on nuclear plants, might be required, even in conflicts that did not directly engage U.S. interests.

Even historic U.S. allies should not be permitted to gain sufficient power to challenge the United States. "We must maintain the mechanism for deterring potential competitors from even aspiring to a larger regional or global role," the draft said.

The plans called for a new order that would satisfy the interests of the advanced industrial nations sufficiently to discourage them from challenging American leadership.

Though the strategies in the document outraged many in 1992, the terrorist attacks against the World Trade Center and the Pentagon seem to have provided the pretext for Wolfowitz, Libby, and like-minded officials to use a war against terror to reintroduce their 10-year-old ambitions.


Published: Mar 26 2002
http://www.tompaine.com/feature.cfm/ID/5345